Understanding the MAHA Report

Are doctors failing to keep Americans healthy?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., often appeals to what seems like basic common sense: the idea that Americans—especially kids—are not eating that well, are not active enough, and are addicted to screens. He argues that America’s cultural environment is unhealthy: that being surrounded by microplastics and chemicals and synthetic drugs is self-evidently harmful. Making America Healthy Again entails a return to simpler and fresher ingredients, glass and metal and wood cooking implements, and the outdoors.

This all seems rather intuitive. But the concrete claims of the government’s May 2025 MAHA Report deserve scrutiny. On his YouTube channel, the dermatologist Avi Bitterman spent nearly four hours livestreaming a clinical evaluation of the report, which he believes is largely misguided. The MAHA report goes far beyond promoting simpler ingredients in kids’ snacks—a trend that has become increasingly popular over the years. It instead suggests serious changes in the practice of medicine.

Dr. Bitterman is a vegan who researches the role of plant-based diets in medicine. He might fit in well with many of the natural-living advocates supporting RFK, Jr. But as a careful researcher, he is wary of the tendency to read desired outcomes into data. For those without four hours to spare, below are just a few of Bitterman’s key points: